


Life After the War

by mawmawile



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Multi, Not Compliant with Avatar Comics, One Shot Collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25634080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mawmawile/pseuds/mawmawile
Summary: Mai and Zuko are happily married, though their journey hasn't been easy. But more and more Katara feels herself drawn to the Fire Lord, and he to her.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Life After the War

**Author's Note:**

> The true ship is Maiko AND Zutara. Spoiler, Mai and Katara will be a thing, but I'll tag it when it happens~

Mai was the Fire Lord’s wife.

Their relationship was initially rocky, back before the war ended. Zuko had returned victorious from Ba Sing Se, worry eating at him. At first Mai had assumed he felt conflicted about killing the Avatar—even when they were little kids he was a gentle soul, only pushing back when provoked. And with her brief encounters with the Avatar, the child had seemed more eager to flee to safety than to stay and deal with his enemies.

But as he stayed in Caldera with her, that nagging worry never went away. Mai wasn’t one to so brazenly pester him about it, not with prying ears scattered about and her blasé demeanor to maintain. When she hinted at it, his face would turn dark, unreadable. For someone who wore his heart so openly on his sleeve before, not even the perceptive Mai could fathom what was coursing through his mind.

They did eventually become an item. It was more Mai’s advances than his. She missed him, and she missed male company. Ty Lee was nice and Azula was exciting, but it wasn’t the same. She needed intimacy with someone she wouldn’t fight next to the next day.

He wasn’t the same. Not the same dithering, awkward boy who clung to his mother’s skirts and bit his lip when his father turned away. He was harder, more reserved, always thinking and overthinking the past, the present, the future.

And when Mai awoke in her temporary residence in the palace on the Day of the Black Sun, she found an apology laying bare on her writing desk. _I’m sorry_ , it read, _I can’t keep going along with Father. I’m going to teach the Avatar firebending so we can end this pointless war once and for all. Please don’t go after me. Stay safe during the eclipse. I don’t know if you can forgive me. I hope you can find someone better than me to love._

_Zuko._

She could’ve sprinted out and searched for him. She could’ve strapped her gauntlets on and packed every knife she could carry. She could’ve joined him to the Avatar. She could’ve taught the Avatar how to surreptitiously shoot out daggers, or maybe that attractive Water Tribe boy. She could’ve ended the war.

But she didn’t. She stood there, dumbfounded in her sleep robe, feeling her teeth clench and her hands shake. When a servant knocked on her door telling her it’s time to evacuate, Mai got dressed without a word, tucking the letter into her robe, and left.

* * *

Mai embraced him after the war. Everyone was buzzing with excitement, with grief. It was an unbelievable feeling, that it was _you_ who ended a hundred year war, that everyone who died was still there, rotting beneath the earth. She was happy to see him—alive, even with a lightning wound on his chest. She was happy to be released from prison.

But he wasn’t the same.

Mai didn’t know what exactly went on during his fight with Azula. She didn’t ask, he didn’t offer. But often he would look away from her, lost in thought about the past, the present, the future. Everything seemed to weigh on him, even as he seemed lighter, happier, in ways he never was with her.

They disagreed a lot, they argued a lot, they fought a lot. He would always apologize though, often when the tension was high.

They were constantly off and on, but she still loved him. She supposed he loved _her_ , too. It was a comforting feeling when he’d be funny and tender and romantic with her, even when she was silently wrought with a pulsing guilt, _I should say something. He did._

Over a year and a half they became more mature. Bit by bit, she allowed herself to break her walls. If she made one wrong move, it would be but a drop in the ocean of everyone’s missteps. Maybe they’d laugh at her, the Avatar and his friends, but it would warm her face and her heart.

Zuko and Mai fought less. Slowly they stepped in identical rhythm, a steady beat that drew them together. The two of them started to sleep in the same bed, like some kind of married couple. It was nice, even when she slept all morning past when her firebender had already risen.

It was only dusk but she was already exhausted. She who had kept her eyes and ears open but mouth shut all her life knew politics and court drama like Zuko didn’t. He was full of bright ideas, but only really good at the exciting stuff. Peace treaties, land reclamation, the sorts. He worked for the people, didn’t know how to work with nobles. Mai did. And if Mai knew only one thing about nobles, is that they were a tiring bunch.

“Stop working, it’s late,” she murmured sleepily, already curled up in blankets.

“The sun just went down.” He barely spared a glance outside, though he probably didn’t need to.

“You’re tired. I’m tired.” Mai patted the other side of the bed invitingly. “Keep me company?”

Zuko looked over at her. He looked as if he would drop dead at any moment.

Mai was always bad at being sexy, but she put on her most seductive look. She was too tired for anything but sleep, though.

Back to his work, back to her, back to his work, back to her. He kept turning indecisively. If they weren’t so tired, Mai would think the sight hilarious. “What if I just _tell_ you to go to bed?”

“Well…” Sleep was getting more attractive as this went on, along with other things. “It’s not a _bad_ idea…”

Zuko finally conceded, changing into sleepwear. He looked excellent.

“There are two things that never change,” Mai said when he slipped in next to her. “That nothing stays the same, and that bureaucracy takes an abysmal amount of time. No one expects you to go so quickly.”

“It’s my duty.” He sounded defeated already. “My ancestors paved a path of ruin for a hundred years. I have to do everything I can to fix it.”

“Change takes time,” she said, cupping his face. “That’s the third thing. And it isn’t easy, either. So it’s okay to have some easy moments. You’re already miles ahead of your predecessor.”

Zuko slipped his hand under hers, and kept holding it there, over his face.

“...I guess so. It just always feels so wrong.”

“It’s not.”

Eventually they pulled apart to sleep. Mai curled into herself and closed her eyes. She expected to feel Zuko’s warm body melt into her backside, but he still laid there, probably thinking about something. She was about to turn and tell him to relax when he spoke.

“We should get married.”

“What?!” She sat up in shock.

Seeing her reaction, he sat up too looking flustered. “Wait, sorry! Forget it! I was just rambling—and it’s not like I _wouldn’t_ want to get m-married, it’s just that you don’t want—”

“Shut up, stupid.” She grabbed his hands, which immediately went to his hair. “You just surprised me.”

“Huh?”

“It’s late, go to bed.” She herself laid back down and nestled into herself. “Tell me this tomorrow.”

Before closing her eyes, she glanced at him and smiled. “Make it official. Even though my answer’s already yes.”


End file.
